Arewa Forum Denies Endorsing Amnesty, Payments To Terrorists

Apex northern sociocultural group, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has dismissed social media reports that it supports calls for amnesty or monetary settlements for terrorists and bandits.

The forum described the claim as a deliberate distortion of the comments made by its Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu.

A trending video clip had insinuated that Dalhatu, in a recent interview with Arise News, endorsed a model similar to the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s amnesty programme for Niger Delta militants.

But the ACF, in a statement issued yesterday by its national publicity secretary, Prof. Tukur Muhammad-Baba, said the clip had been “truncated, taken out of context and mischievously abstracted to reach predetermined conclusions.”

ACF noted that the whole interview—available on various digital platforms—showed Dalhatu speaking “mostly in his personal capacity,” and repeatedly condemning the worsening terrorist activities across Nigeria and the West African sub-region.

According to the ACF, Dalhatu made it clear at the outset of the interview that terrorists and bandits must be annihilated so the country can overcome its security challenges in the shortest possible time.

The Forum stressed that he also emphasised that no one in the North or anywhere in the country is pleased with the current insecurity, nor is anyone shielding criminal elements, contrary to widespread speculation.

Clarifying Dalhatu’s reference to the Niger Delta amnesty model, the ACF explained that he merely suggested that the government should consider all available options—kinetic and non-kinetic when tackling insecurity, and that any person advocating a particular solution was expressing an opinion.

It added that Dalhatu never framed terrorists or bandits in terms of religion, ethnicity or other primordial identities, insisting that such interpretations were fabrications of “clandestine and shadowy groups.”

The Forum stated unequivocally that it has never called for amnesty for terrorists or bandits and “rejects in its entirety any insinuation to the contrary.”

Reaffirming its stance, the ACF pledged its continued support for the federal government and security agencies in their efforts to eradicate terrorism and banditry.